D700 Focusing Advise

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Vermontster

New member
I am having difficulties focusing at close range. In the view finder, the specimen is very sharp, but as you can see by the 3 blossom photos they are not sharp. I've tried tripods, very fast shutter speeds, different f stops, AF & Manual focus, different lenses, but it doesn't seem to matter.

The shot of the beagle was taken just after the blossom shots and his features are in great focus. These shots were taken today using a Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED. Any of you D700 users have any suggestions? I'm sure it's something I'm doing because on rare occasions I get a smoking sharp photo.

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Chris
 
M

Mark E

Senior Member
Just a guess, but seems you may be inside the minimum focusing distance of the lens. Look up the minimum focusing distance for your lens and remember to be at least that distance. Hope this helps.
 
V

Vermontster

New member
Mark E said:
Just a guess, but seems you may be inside the minimum focusing distance of the lens. Look up the minimum focusing distance for your lens and remember to be at least that distance. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Now that I didn't think about. As I figured, it was probably something I was doing. I appreciate the help Mark (and will let you know if that did the trick).
I do not have a macro lens, nor have I ever used one...Maybe that's what I need. (a 105mm is on my NAS list though)
 
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Joseph Bautsch

New member
This looks like a depth of field problem. The closer you get to a subject the shallower the DOF. If you want to max out the DOF at close ranges you have to use the highest f/stop possible, f/16, f/18/, with f/22 giving the best DOF. I note the shutter speed you were using was up around 1/1000 with the f/stop at f/4.5 for the flowers. For flowers you don't usually need a fast shutter. Try using a shutter speed of 1/100 and the f/stop at around f/22. Go to my blog on this site. I have an article explaining depth of field. It should give you a better understanding of what it is and how to use it. Now for the down side. If you do use f/22 you can also bring in to focus the background and you will lose the bokeh. So it's a matter of finding the DOF that will bring your subject in focus and still give good bokeh for the background. A macro lens will let you get in closer but you will still have the same decisions to make regarding the DOF. Hope this helps.
 
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Mike150

Senior Member
Vermontster said:
Now that I didn't think about. As I figured, it was probably something I was doing. I appreciate the help Mark (and will let you know if that did the trick).
I do not have a macro lens, nor have I ever used one...Maybe that's what I need. (a 105mm is on my NAS list though)
Click to expand...

I have the 105 and it's a great piece of glass. (That didn't really come out right).

It's a tough lens for me to get used to, but I can see improvement with my perserverance. I've scheduled a class tomorrow with one of the local professional photographers who specializes is close ups, so I hope that helps. Going to rain tomorrow, but the class will be indoors. I'll let you know how it goes.
 
V

Vermontster

New member
Joseph Bautsch said:
This looks like a depth of field problem. QUOTE]

Thanks for the DOF feedback. I have been trying to get a very shallow DOF to get some nice bokeh, but can't get the flowers/blossoms sharp. I went out and shot the blossoms again at 2 feet away as suggested by Mark E; they were a little sharper but when I cropped them close they were to pixelated.

So I thought I would lose the shallow DOF and shot them at f/22 and f/18. Though it was an overcast day, I had to have a slow shutter speed, which revealed camera shake fuzziness and/or a combination of camera shake and slight wind blowing.

It will be raining for the next 4 days, so I will revisit this when the suns back.

Thanks again Joseph for for input!
Click to expand...
 
V

Vermontster

New member
Mark E said:
Minimum focusing distance for the 24-70 lens, according to Nikon is .38 Meters or about 14 to 15 inches.
Click to expand...

I went out and shot the blossoms again at 2 feet away; they were a little sharper but when I cropped them close they were to pixelated. I will try some more when the rain stops.

Thanks again Mark
 
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Joseph Bautsch

New member
I have always found that a monopod or tripod helps a lot when shooting close up with a slow shutter speed. Try using a higher ISO. With the D700 you should get good shots even at 1250 ISO. Also a VR lens can make a big difference (Don't use VR with a tripod.). Don't give it up. Getting good natural light closeups with the depth of field you want is a matter of practice and learning the limits of the equipment and shooting at 10" to 15" is pushing the DOF envelope.
 
Marcel

Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Hi Chris, As others have said, depth of field is difficult with close-up shots. But one thing that I noticed with your flower shots is that they seem to be a little on the overexposed side. Since the petals are mostly washed out, it looks like they are not in focus, but in reality they could show more detail if they were more on the darker side.

But it's possible to make it look better by just making a copy of the background layer and applying a blur filter to the copy, then create a mask and paint the area you want to keep sharp. Then just sharpen for the output with "unsharp" filter.
Here's what I was able to get out of your middle shot.

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It's not perfect because I wasn't able to get all the white detail back, but it might help you I hope.
 
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gqtuazon

Gear Head
Nicely done Marcel. It's something that I should try. I agree that the petals were over exposed. I've done a lot of similar rookie mistakes myself using this combo. Then I tried using spot metering instead of matrix metering, use -.3 EV, Neurtal picture control and usually hand hold my camera since I'm too lazy to carry a tripod. A single focus point might work better instead of the 51 point.

Here is a sample using matrix metering and standard picture control. The petals are a little saturated but not too exagerated with this image. I had worse ones.

D700 + 24-70mm f2.8

D700_24-70mm_17.jpg


Spot metering. I had to adjust my minimum focusing distance a bit and you'll notice that the bokeh changes quite a bit. All were hand held.

Garden_rose.jpg
 
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